AS
Alpha Sesay
Ministry of Justice, Sierra Leone
Deputy Minister of Justice
Biography
Alpha Sesay is the Deputy Minister of Justice for Sierra Leone. Until his appointment as Deputy Minister of Justice in July 2023, he was the Senior Democracy, Rights and Governance Advisor for USAID in Sierra Leone. Before USAID, he was Senior Advocacy Officer at the Open Society Foundations, based in Washington DC (USA) where he worked largely on human rights litigation and advocacy before regional and international human rights mechanisms. Mr. Sesay has had extensive experience working in the field of international human rights, international criminal justice and on broader issues relating to accountability for atrocity crimes. He has done so in the context of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, and regional human rights bodies including the ECOWAS Court, African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. He has had extensive engagements with regional bodies including the European and African Union, and with national governments on broader issues relating to human rights, accountability governance, rule of law, justice sector reform, access to justice, anti-corruption, transitional justice, and criminal accountability for atrocity crimes.
Mr. Sesay is founding president of the Fourah Bay College Human Rights Clinic, and founding Executive Director of the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Program. He has worked and consulted with the UN and various international human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch and International Center for Transitional Justice. In 2018, Mr. Sesay was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program. Mr. Sesay has published, taught, delivered lectures/papers and spoken extensively on human rights and international justice at various renowned universities including Harvard Law School, University of Leiden, University of Amsterdam, and New York University. He has also served as expert commentator on human rights and international justice issues for prominent media. He holds an LL.M in International Human Rights from the University of Notre Dame Law School, USA, and was called to the Sierra Leone Bar 20 years ago. And of final note, he has served OBBA as executive member of OBBA Washington DC Chapter.
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